It all started in 1980.
TimeBanks.org was born to fulfill the powerful vision spelled out by our founder Edgar Cahn:
Stand up for what’s right. Oppose what’s wrong. Value people as the miraculous beings they are. Know that people have much to offer when given the chance.
In 1980, Edgar designed timebanking (then time dollars) as a new currency, where people exchange time, not money, and where an hour of service was always priced at an hour. Timebanking would encourage caring, grow trust, and engender self-empowerment.
The idea went viral. Thousands of inquiries sparked hundreds of new starts. Two states even created legislation in support of timebanking. But in time, the number of timebanks began shrinking, not growing. By the mid-nineties, few remained. Could the vision be realized?
The answer was unclear. Some TimeBanks were thriving, impactful, and changing lives for the good. So the concept was working, and powerfully – but why not everywhere?
In 1995, Edgar created The Time Dollar Institute – renamed for many years as TimeBanks USA to find answers, recharge the existing network, help new timebanks get started, find and share what worked, and gain support for timebanking as a transformative, system-changing approach from policymakers and funders.
To address a critical challenge: Timebanking is a purpose-built currency, created to overcome problems caused by money. But money’s dominance is everywhere. To be truly effective and impactful, each TimeBank must deal with the money question.
Obviously, in hindsight, the money conundrum explained the struggles. It called for solutions. In 1998 Richard Rockefeller brought grassroots timebank leaders together to learn from each other. In 2000, in No More Throw-Away People: The Co-Production Imperative, Edgar laid out five key principles for forging two-way bridges between money and timebanking. Leaders dug in and found practical solutions. Timebanking conferences spurred more learning. Timebank software was created. By the early 2000s a genuine, worldwide movement was growing.
In January 2021, with a new vision to help restore and build the TimeBank movement, new board members, and a new Executive Director, TimeBanks USA then became TimeBanks.Org.
TimeBanks.Org continues to open up the space for more reciprocity in communities all over the world. Whether it's introducing the values of TimeBanking to your organization or growing a global community of local TimeBanks, we exist to help communities and partners create a culture of trust, empathy, and connection; where everyone is valued and where equity is celebrated and honored.
Edgar continued to be a towering, inspirational figure until his passing in January of 2022. Here at TimeBanks.Org, we will continue his legacy by supporting the timebanking movement worldwide, helping to build the growing solidarity economy, and opening doors for people to become change agents for a better world.
At the grassroots level, we seek to ensure that local TimeBanks have information, tools, and – most important of all -- connections with other timebanks to help them succeed.
At the policy level, we will continue to reach out to local civic leaders, universities, and state and national policymakers to consider how timebanking can become a systemic force for change, locally and globally.
At the technology level, before his death, Edgar blessed a new partnership with Made Open, a B corporation software development company, to provide a new version of our longstanding timebanking software, to be launched in January 2023.
